This invention relates to a slide-out room that may be extended from the main living area of mobile living quarters, mobile living quarters include, but are not limited to, travel trailers, fold-out tent campers, motor homes, and similar recreational vehicles, and sleeper cabs of heavy duty trucks. Accordingly, a larger living space is provided when the mobile living quarters is parked for use.
The living area provided by recreational vehicles is limited to that which may be conveniently towed behind a conventional towing vehicle, such as a passenger car, light truck, or sports utility vehicle. Accordingly, the living area provided by such recreational vehicles is extremely limited, and it is desirable that supplemental living quarters be provided in the form of a slide-out room which can be extended from the recreational vehicle when the unit is parked to provide additional living space, but which may be retracted into the recreational vehicle when the vehicle is moved and the occupants are not within the living area. Similarly, sleeper cabs of heavy trucks are limited to a volume not interfering with articulation of the vehicle and conforming to the standard width and length of such vehicles. Many different types of slide-out rooms are known to those skilled in the art, but any such slide-out room must maintain its alignment with the aperture in the walls of the mobile living quarters through which the slide-out room extends and retracts. It is also desirable that the actuation forces required to operate the slide-out room be as small as possible. Low actuation forces minimize the size and power required of an electric motor which drives the room between the extended and retracted position.
According to present invention, a slide-out or retractable room for a recreational vehicle, sleeper cab of a heavy duty truck or similar mobile living quarters is supported for movement through an aperture in the side wall of the mobile living quarters by a set of four linkages, two of which are mounted between each side of the slide-out room and the corresponding side of the aperture in the side wall of the mobile living quarters. When the slide-out room is fully retracted within the mobile living quarters, one of the linkages on each side of the slide-out room is fully extended and the other is fully collapsed, and as the slide-out room is moved toward the fully extended position, the other linkage gradually expands and the one linkage collapses, so that in the fully extended position, as well as the fully retracted position, the slide-out room is supported and aligned for movement within the aperture in the vehicle side wall, and the slide-out room is continuously supported as it travels between the extended and the retracted position. Accordingly, the slide-out room is suspended above the floor of the main living area and does not slide on the floor of the main living area, so that actuation power requirements are minimized. One end of each of the main links of each linkage is mounted in a vertically extending track mounted on the side wall, thereby assuring that the floor of the slide-out room remains flat as the slide-out room is extended and retracted.